How to upload 3D scans from Scandy Pro to Facebook

The internet is slowly adopting compatibility for 3D content. While there are many sites that successfully allow you to upload, download, and view 3D files, the addition of support for 3D files via glTF 2.0 file format by Facebook is a sign that it's becoming more mainstream.

This post will focus on uploading 3D scans to Facebook even though there are several other platforms (i.e. Sketchfab, 8th Wall Web AR, Google Poly, and more) that accept the same “.glb” (glTF binary) file type. The main reason is that Facebook only accepts “.glb” 3D files, while most others accept various other 3D file types.

Before starting I should point out that Facebook’s 3D file size limit is 3MB. Most full 3D scans would exceed this limit, but it’s perfect for sharing of fun 3D “snapshots” of faces (animals included if you can get them to sit still for a second), cool new gear you just bought or got as a present, delicious meals you want to show off, etc.

Step one for uploading a 3D scan to Facebook is of course to take a 3D scan of something you want to share with our Scandy Pro 3D Scanner app. For this demo I chose this cool tiki mask.

A 3D scan of a tiki mask after saving

Step two is to make sure the scan is small enough to upload to Facebook. If the file size displayed is larger than about 2.4MB (exporting to “.glb” increases the default size about 0.5MB), you will need to crop and decimate the object to make it smaller (see video in link for how-to).

Check that the file size is less than 2.4 MB

Step three is exporting the model. Start by tapping the file once to display options. Then tap the share icon.

The share icon

Select “GLB (glTF binary)”

Choose GLB export type for Facebook

A list of sharing options will pop up when you select the GLB export type. There is no way to upload this model directly to the Facebook app on your phone, so you need to select a sharing method to transfer this file to your computer.

If you have a MacBook or iMac you can easily use AirDrop. If you don’t have an Apple computer, you can either select “Save to Files” and access it through iTunes, email it to yourself and download it from there, or share to some other file sharing service that you can access from your computer like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.

Step four is uploading to Facebook! Open Facebook on your computer. Find the “.glb” file in you file storage on your computer. Click on the “What’s on your mind” prompt to start a status. Drag the “.glb” file from your files to the box into the status box.

Click into the status box

You’ll see the 3D loading screen while it’s preparing your file for viewing.

Spinning loading indicator

Then you will see the object in the 3D viewer and you can share you 3D scan!